Should We Be the Tortoise or the Hare in Addressing Biden-Harris Anti-gun Executive Orders?

Written by Rob Morse, Friday, November 29, 2024

A Presidential Advantage

A key advantage of the presidency is selecting the executive management who will implement policies. This opportunity allows you to rectify your predecessor’s missteps significantly. Let’s examine the encroachments that the Biden-Harris administration has placed on the Second Amendment. While this may seem a narrow concern, a similar analysis applies to nearly all our constitutional rights.

Finding a Solution

The easiest recourse would be to nullify the existing executive orders. However, that may not be the best answer in every situation. Case in point: Biden administration’s executive orders that categorize individual citizens as gun dealers. This law reinterpretation seemingly aimed to halt illicit gun shops from dealing arms to known outlaws.

The Reinterpretation and Its Implications

Under the veneer, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) can now brand you as a “dealer involved in the business of buying and selling firearms”, merely if you propose to buy or sell a single firearm. A successful sale is unnecessary for this designation. The prosecution process itself is punitive, as you must expend personal funds for legal representation to defend your rights while government resources are used against you.

A Strategic Approach

Instead of only counteracting the executive orders, proactive actions could enthuse the administrative state to enforce enduring changes. An initial step could be: instruct ATF to extend the most expansive claims possible under Biden’s executive orders. For instance, ATF could argue that anyone who transacts with a single firearm must acquire a federal firearms license.

Taking the Dive for a Broader Win

Then, seek a pro-rights federal district court and initiate a case against a sympathetic defendant. A strategic overstatement of charges can have the case appealed to higher courts and be declared unconstitutional. With this result, the Biden executive orders cannot be enforced in that district. Further, appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) for an all-encompassing declaration of these orders as unconstitutional.

The Broader Outcome

This deliberate strategy offers a more extensive pro-rights decision that is harder for future administrations to overturn. However, the drawback: our rights remain infringed upon for a few more years as the case advances through our judicial system. The question, then, is the temporary sacrifice worth the larger win? Only time will tell if we decide to play the role of the tortoise or the hare.

Contributor Information

Rob Morse writes about gun rights at his SlowFacts blog and hosts the Self Defense Gun Stories Podcast and co-hosts the Polite Society Podcast.

About the Buckeye Firearms Association

Buckeye Firearms Association is a grassroots organization that strives to defend and promote the right of citizens to own and use firearms for all lawful activities. They are dedicated to enhancing gun rights through education and legislation action. Their work extends from self-defense acts and gun facts to offering gun rights videos and educational guides. Support their cause by becoming a member or subscribing to their free newsletter today.

Originally Post From https://www.buckeyefirearms.org/biden-harris-anti-gun-executive-orders-should-we-be-tortoise-or-hare

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